


Tall, Blonde, Gorgeous, and absolutely confused by 21st century coffee

by ThatsCrazyRandom



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Captain America Steve Rogers, Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, Kind of Identity Porn, M/M, Modern Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 22:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16273958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatsCrazyRandom/pseuds/ThatsCrazyRandom
Summary: Steve comes into the coffee shop every week, and is always nice to the servers, tips well, but perhaps most importantly, he always lets Bucky choose his drink.





	Tall, Blonde, Gorgeous, and absolutely confused by 21st century coffee

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was meant to be a short, cute prompt fill for Happy Steve Bingo, for the prompt 'Coffee.' 
> 
> As you can see, it kind of ran away from me. 
> 
>  
> 
> PS. I don't know how to summary.

There's this guy who comes in every single day to the shop. He's absolutely gorgeous, tall and blonde, but that's not why everybody like them.

At least it's not why Bucky likes him.

Bucky likes him because he's funny, kind to the baristas, and to other customers and because it's really fun to see him try different drinks.

The first time he'd come in, he'd looked at their menu with a look more like he was looking at a riddle rather than a drinks menu.

It wasn't even like they had a super confusing menu, they weren't like Starbucks or something.

Bucky, who had been working the register that day, had taken pity on him.

"Looking for coffee?" He asked him.

"Uh... Yeah, sorry. I should have found what I wanted before getting in line.. I just.. Don't know what any of this means." The guy had admitted with a self-deprecating smile.

"Alright. Do you like your coffee strong? Sweet? Cream?"Bucky asked, "Give me something to work with and I can point you in the right direction."

See normally, Bucky would have just told him to let the next customer through, and figure it out before he got in line again. He was in a pretty good mood though, and the guy had looked so adorably confused by the menu that he had to help.

"Uh... Sweet. I put sugar and milk in my coffee at home. I just.. Didn't have time before leaving this morning."

"And milk?" Bucky asked blankly. "Alright, I know what you'll like. But do yourself a favour yeah? Get yourself some creamer for at home. You like chocolate? Allergic to anything?" He asked.

The guy shook his head. "Uh..yeah I like chocolate. And no allergies."

Bucky nodded. "Great, can I get a name?"

"Steve. My name is Steve." The guy said quickly, sounding a little surprised by the question. Maybe he hadn't been to a coffee shop before at all?

Bucky scrawled it on the cup and rang it up, giving him the total.

"You're not going to tell me what it is?" The guy- Steve asked while getting his money out.

"Nope." Bucky grinned, handing him the change. "You'll see." He winked. "Next!" He called.

A few minutes later, Bucky heard Steve's name get called.

"Mocha latte for Steve!"

Steve looked confused, adorably so (again), and went up to collect his drink.

Bucky managed to change his station, so he could Steve take his first sip.

He grinned at the look on his face and winked when Steve whirled around to look at him. "Good?" He asked.

"Amazing! Thank you." He said earnestly.

Bucky felt himself blush lightly at how genuine this guy seemed. "It's just a mocha. Come back when you're feeling more adventurous." He teased before he had to get back to work.

Bucky didn't expect to see Steve again. He had left after getting his coffee, and even though he clearly liked it, a mocha was something you could pretty much get anywhere nowadays.

So he was pretty surprised when just a couple days later, a familiar tall face walked in the door.

He smiled at the servers walking around, nodding politely as he made his way to the counter.

"You found your way back I see." Bucky grinned, taking advantage of the fact there was no line today.

"Yeah. That mocha was really good. The tower- where I work has a coffee bar. I've been getting them from there when I can't s- focus." Steve said, smiling wide.

"So you want another mocha?" He asked.

Steve shook his head. "Nope. Feeling adventurous. What have you got for me today James?" He asked.

"Bucky. People call me Bucky." He told him, grinning. "Alright. Hot or cold today?" He asked.

Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "There's cold coffee? Isn't that gross?"

"Oh Steve, sweet summer child. You have no idea. You liked the mocha yeah?" He said, not expecting an answer since he already knew he liked it. "You like caramel?" He got a cup and scrawled Steve's name on it.

Steve nodded. "Yes..?" He said, getting an adorably confused look back.

Bucky grinned and passed the cup off to one of the girls.

"You're gonna love it, man, it'll change your life." He said, giving him the total.

Steve paid him. "Whatever you say Bucky." He said, smiling.

Bucky gave him the change. "You'll see." He said.

When Steve got his drink, Bucky was watching him. He saw the surprise on his face when he picked up the cold cup and looked at Bucky warily before taking a sip.

His eyes widened almost comically. He gasped. "Okay, I take it back, cold coffee is a stroke of genius." He told Bucky, grinning.

To Bucky's surprise, instead of leaving, Steve sat down and drew for a few hours. He brought lunch after an hour and a half and another caramel mocha frappe, blushing at Bucky's grin when he did so.

He even waved on his way out, after thanking and tipping them.

It continued that way for weeks. Every few days, Steve would come in, and he and Bucky would banter while Bucky picked out a new drink for him to try. Not all of them were a success, but Steve never got angry when he didn't like them, and even finished them most of the time. Bucky gave him a small drink on the house to apologise when they were really awful.

Eventually, Steve had made his way through the list Bucky had worked out after the first couple of visits.

"Sorry." Bucky shrugged. "You've exhausted my expertise. I don't have any sweet drinks left to give you." He joked.

Steve laughed softly.

"Guess it's finally my turn to get you a drink." He replied.

Bucky practically went slack-jawed. "You smooth bastard." He blurted.

He and Steve /had/ been flirting, but he hadn't expected it to go anywhere. He wasn't exactly upset that it had though.

Steve grinned at him. "That a yes?"

Bucky laughed. "Yeah, alright. I'll bite. Whatcha thinkin'?"

"You could come critique my coffee making skills? I've gotten a lot better than sugar and milk now." Steve suggested.

Bucky smiled fondly. It was such a them thing. It was very sweet for Steve to think of. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't already smitten for him.

He nodded. "Sounds great."

Steve practically beamed at him. "Great. When are you free? I can do pretty much any time, short of an emergency." He said.

Bucky nodded. "How's tomorrow night sound?" He asked.

Steve was still smiling, but it was so completely genuine Bucky adored it.

"Perfect. It's a date. Do you want me to pick you up?"

Bucky's heart flip-flopped a little at the confirmation it's a date, and he hummed as he tried to play it cool. "That would be preferable. Where do you live?"

Steve rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm actually staying in Manhattan at the moment."

Bucky gasped, "Steve how could you? You traitor." He teased.

"I know, I know. My teammate gives me crap over it all the time. He's from Bed Stuy." Steve laughed.

"Well if you in Manhattan, I guess I can take the subway over and we can meet somewhere."

They exchanged numbers and Bucky got Steve's drink. He didn't hang around, instead leaving once he had the drink with a "See you tomorrow Buck!" which caused all the girls to grill him on what had happened.

\--

Bucky got his sister and her friend's help on what to wear. He ended up wearing a grey shirt and black jeans with his black bomber jacket. He thought it was a bit too black, but his sister assured him he looked great, and her friend had told him that Steve would have to be crazy not to bang him.

He made his way to the subway station and rode over to Manhattan. He hated the subway, it always felt cramped, even when the car wasn't even full, and it was messy and loud, and underground. But he could suffer for Steve. Kind, sweet, gorgeous Steve who asked him on a date and came to his coffee shop in Brooklyn regularly even though he lived in Manhattan.

He and Steve were meeting at Central Park, which was apparently near where Steve lived. Apparently, Steve was loaded, which Bucky had not known until they had been texting last night, and Steve casually mentioned he lived on the Upper East Side.

When he reached their meeting point, Steve wasn't there yet, so Bucky sat down to wait, looking around at the people still at the park.

"Bucky!" He heard a voice say. "Hey, sorry I'm late. Tony and Clint, they wouldn't let me leave til I gave them the details." Steve admitted with a blush as he stopped in front of Bucky.

"Hey Steve. It's alright. Tony and Clint are your roommates?" Bucky asked, standing up.

Maybe that's why Steve could afford to live on the Upper East Side. He had a bunch of roommates?

"Sort of. Tony is technically my landlord. Clint is the friend who lives in Bed Stuy." Steve explained.

Well, there goes that idea.

"Oh, I see," Bucky said, nodding as they started walking, presumably towards Steve's place. He really didn't see, but he didn't want to be rude by asking.

They chatted idly while they walked a few blocks until Steve stopped in front of a building.

"Here we are." He said, motioning for Bucky go in first. "I'm on the 87th floor." He added.

Bucky was so focused on being sure that Steve would be holding the door for him if they weren't automatic, that he almost didn't notice where they were.

He paused before going in, "Steve are you sure this is the right place?"

Steve's face contorted into that adorable confusion that was almost Bucky's favourite expression on him.

"Yeah Buck, I'm sure." He said, sounding amused.

"Steve, Stevie, I'm pretty sure this is Avengers Tower," Bucky said. In fact, he was positive this was Avengers Tower.

Steve laughed. "Yep, that's what it's called. Are you coming inside or what?"

Bucky was sure he probably looked pretty similar to Steve's confused look. "We can't just waltz into Avengers Tower!" He hissed.

"Bucky I live here. I promise you, it's okay." Steve said.

"But the Avengers will like.. Get mad. I don't want to be chased by mad Avengers Steve." Bucky defended.

Steve looked like this was the funniest thing he'd heard all day, though he held back his laughter at the sight of Bucky's glare.

"Look, they won't get mad, just come inside Buck," Steve said, and Bucky finally allowed himself to be dragged through the lobby of the very expensive self-sufficient building to an elevator away from the others. They got through security at least. They hadn't been arrested yet. Maybe there really was some secret residential apartments on the 87th floor.

"JARVIS, take us to my floor please," Steve said to the elevator.

"Certainly Captain Rogers. And welcome, Mister Barnes."

Bucky flinched at the British voice coming through the walls.

"What was that?!" He asked, alarmed.

Steve grinned, "Relax, that's Jarvis. He basically runs the place. He's an AI."

Bucky nodded slowly. "An AI, okay." He said.

Now that he knew what the voice was, he could finally process what it had said.

...Captain Rogers. He looked at Steve slowly. Captain... Steve Rogers.

HOLY SHIT STEVE IS CAPTAIN AMERICA.

"I introduced Captain America to iced coffee." Bucky breathed, shocked. "Holy shit. Steve... You're Captain America."

It suddenly made sense. How Steve knew next to nothing about coffee, and why their menu had looked foreign to him that first time he'd come in.

"Last time I checked, yeah," Steve said, laughing quietly.

Bucky scowled. "Steve! What the fuck!" He cried.

"I can't believe it took you this long to realise, honestly." Steve had the decency to look a little sheepish. "I understand if you wanna leave though."

Bucky frowned at him. "Why would I leave? We have a date." He said in confusion.

Steve looked confused back at him, "Because I'm Captain America? Because you don't want to get involved with an Avenger?"

"No. Well, yeah, you're Captain America, and I'm going to have serious words with you once I get my head around the fact I learnt about the guy I have a crush on in History class, but you're still Steve, who lets me pick his drinks, even now he knows what coffee is and what flavours he likes. You're still Steve who makes the girls laugh when they serve you and Steve that tips well." Bucky said, trailing off at the end. "You being Captain America doesn't change things.. I mean, it does, but not us. I like you, and I wanna see where this goes." He took a breath after his big speech.

Steve was smiling so wide it looked like his face might split in half. "Yeah? You mean that?" He asked, looking like a hopeful puppy.

Bucky nodded. "Every word."

Suddenly Steve's lips were on his. It was a pretty nice kiss, sweet and gentle in a way that just screamed Steve.

Bucky was pretty sure his face mirrored Steve's when they pulled back.

He was spared from having to come up with something to say by the elevator doors opening.

Steve lead him out into what looked like a living room. "So, this is my floor."

Bucky looked around curiously. Everything looked expensive, and it was easy to see Steve's influence, but only in certain places.  
The huge armchair with the smooshed pillows on it, the stack of classic books beside it. The old record player near the TV. The photos on the wall. It was a stark contrast to the crisp sofa that looked barely sat in and the coffee table in the middle of the room with an empty vase and Newton's cradle on top of it.

Bucky smiled at Steve. "Nice." He said because he didn't know what to say. His mind was still reeling from shock, and then the mushy feelings he'd confessed, and then the kiss.

Steve lead him into the kitchen and sat him down so he could make him coffee.

Their date went really well. Bucky found out Steve had definitely improved on the home coffee side of things and then spent the evening finding out even more about him. They ordered takeout for dinner, and sat in front of the TV on the floor, (on top of a soft blanket that Bucky wanted to steal) to watch a movie. Apparently, Steve hadn't seen Star Wars yet. Bucky had to rectify that immediately. They ended up watching the first three movies (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Bucky's not an idiot), so by the time they woke up from their Star Wars induced haze, it was pretty late.

Bucky stretched out, moving from where he was curled up against Steve's side.

He yawned, "Fuck." He said, "It's late." He added uselessly.

Steve hummed, stretching as well. "You wanna stay over? No pressure. You can stay in the guest room, or I can get Jarvis to ask Tony if he can get you a guest suite somewhere else in the tower." He said.

Bucky shook his head. "It's fine, I'm happy to stay here." He trailed off. "Shit. Tony. And Clint. Iron Man and Hawkeye." He realised belatedly.

Steve laughed. "Yeah, Buck."

"Hawkeye lives in Bed Stuy."

Steve nodded. "Owns a building there."  
Bucky covered his eyes. "This is too much for one day." He said, "Tomorrow we will be having words." He threatened, but he was so tired it lacked the actual threatening tone that he would have liked to have had.

Steve grinned at him. "Sure Buck. Bed now?" He asked.

Bucky nodded. "Mhm. But I'm sleeping with you. Even though I bet you steal all the blankets."

"I do not," Steve said as he got up, offering Bucky his hand and practically hauling him to his feet.

"Bet you do. Bet you a caramel frappe."

"Oh, so high stakes."

"Extremely high."

Steve grinned. "You're on." He said. "JARVIS can adjudicate."

Steve gave Bucky a sweater to wear to sleep, and Bucky silently vowed to never give it back. It was soft, and it smelt like coffee, and chocolate, and Steve.

Bucky curled up on Steve's bed, too tired to feel self-conscious. He lazily watched Steve get ready for bed, and then cuddled up to him when he laid down.

Steve just smiled at him. "JARVIS, lights out please." He said quietly.

The AI didn't respond, but the lights in the room turned off.

Bucky drifted off to sleep comfortably, cuddling Steve. Coffee Steve. Who was Captain America. Whose landlord was Iron Man. Who was friends with Hawkeye, who owns a building in Bed Stuy. Steve who he'd just had an amazing date with.

Steve who definitely stole the fucking blankets and now owes him a caramel frappe.

Maybe that can be their next coffee date?


End file.
